Politics1 - Guide to the 2004 Socialist Workers Party Presidential Candidate

PROFESSIONAL: Associate Editor, Perspectiva Mundial (official Spanish language newspaper of the SWP) and Staff Writer, The Militant (official English language newspaper of the SWP). Former meat packer.

PERSONAL: Born in 1969 in Nicaragua. Moved to the US in 1985. Permanent Resident Alien (Green Card) of the US since 1990. Convicted Felon (Sale of Marijuana), 1988.

ARRIN HAWKINS of New York
Socialist Workers Party
Provisional Vice Presidential Nominee

Note: Margaret Trowe is the SWP surrogate nominee for Vice President in any states that
will not accept Hawkins as a qualified candidate because she is a not constitutionally eligible.

Like her foreign-born Presidential runningmate, Arrin Hawkins is also constitutionally ineligibile to be elected -- but for a different reason. Hawkins -- claiming to be only 24 years old in 2004 -- is far too young to meet the minimum legal age requirements of the office. Hawkins is the leader of Young Socialists, the communist youth wing of the SWP. She was also Koppel's 2002 runningmate for NY Lieutenant Governor. Other info: Hawkins earned her B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota, spent a year in Senegal studying the role of women in African culture for her senior year college project, and previously worked as a SWP political organizer in Chicago during the 2000 campaign. An interesting aside: Politics1 received several emails from people who claim they knew Hawkins, in which they each wrote that she is actually several years older than the age she claims (allegedly somewhere in the 28-30 age range). However, inquiries on this issue to the SWP have gone unanswered. While Hawkins may be older than 24, it appears that -- whatever her real age -- she still is under the legal age requirement. Calero briefly because a communist cause celebre in 2002-03 when the INS arrested Calero and started deportation proceedings based on a felony marijuana conviction from 1988 when Calero was in high school. A federal judge killed the deportation attempts six months later.

Since they weren't going to be elected anyways, the Socialist Workers Party didn't care that they nominated a ticket entirely ineligible to be elected. Why? Because Róger Calero is both foreign born and also not a US citizen; and Arrin Hawkins is too young. To avoid ballot access problems for the SWP, as the constitutional ineligibility may also render them unable to be listed on the ballot in some states, the 2000 SWP ticket of James Harris for President and Margaret Trowe for Vice President are being used in states that will not permit the Calero-Hawkins slate to be listed. It is not the first time the SWP pulled this stunt. In 1972, the SWP nominated a Presidential candidate -- Linda Jenness -- who was also too young to qualify for the office (so the party used a replacement nominee in some states to achieve ballot status). They regularly do likewise in US Senate and Congressional races by nominating candidates too young to be eligible to serve. From articles in The Militant, the SWP want to use the Calero-Hawkins ticket to reach out to disaffected, poor, immigrant and young voters. The SWP team describes iteself as "the only fighting alternative to the twin parties of imperialist war and economic depression ... the only voice for workers, farmers, and young people who are standing up to the brutal effects of the deepening global crisis of the capitalist system." As for ideology, the SWP has evolved into a hardline communist party advocating the brand of authoritarian politics espoused by Cuban President Fidel Castro's style of Marxism. In fact, the SWP officially supports "defending the Cuban Revolution." The SWP's 2000 Presidential ticket achieved ballot status in 14 states, but earned only 7,378 votes (9th place - 0.01%). In June 2004, the SWP moved Provisional Presidential nominee Martin Koppel into a US Senate race and substituted Calero as the official SWP Presidential nominee.

Socialist Workers Party 2004 Presidential Campaign
152 W. 36th Street, #401
New York City, NY 10018
212-594-1014
Fax: 212-594-1018
E-mail: themilitant@verizon.net